Why do the members of a parliamentary group usually vote the same way? In 2022 Jakob Blankenburg, an SPD member of the Bundestag, answered this question from a citizen on the platform abgeordnetenwatch.de. The members have divided the committees and topics among themselves, he wrote. No single member can study every topic in detail. Dementsprechend geben die sogenannten Berichterstatter:innen … in der Fraktionssitzung eine Empfehlung zur Abstimmung ab. Accordingly, the so-called rapporteurs give a voting recommendation at the group meeting. He also named shared values as a reason.